Overview

I think it’s fair to say that the release of Fitbit was a huge step forward, a manufacturer who has te goal to create the best fitness smart tracker available. Since its launch, Fitbit have brought out a range of different models to suit all budgets and training levels.

Today we are going to be looking at the newly released Fitbit Charge 3 HR+ and seeing if it stands out against an ever crowded fitness tracker market.

Unboxing of the Fitbit Charge 3 HR+

As you would expect from Fitbit the box is clean in its design and clearly shows the product and its main selling points listed on the front.

This is possibly the most basic and simple marketing strategy a company can employ, but you would be amazed at how many fitness and mart watch manufacturers fail with this basic setup. Sometimes it’s almost like you are expected to know what the product and the features included just by looking at the picture of the item.

Opening the unit is very much like you would expect with the latest smartphone. Slide out the case and flip open the lid to reveal a very nicely presented fitness tracker and instruction manual. Also included is a little box of connections

Initial thoughts and build quality

With the Fitbit Charge 3 HR+ we are very much out of the budget category and into the higher tier of fitness trackers.

The build quality is excellent with a nice smooth rubber textured band that feels just right in weight. Being too light meaning may make it feel cheap and tacky but being too heavy would certainly make it difficult to wear for longer periods.

Battery length is around 4-5 days on full charge, we expect this to diminish as you go through charge cycles, but in our opinion still a great result.

It comes with a host of premium features including:

Continuous hard rate monitor

Step counter, calories and distance tracker

Connected GPS and map tracking

Automatic sleep tracker (with auto detection)

Guided breathing sessions

Caller ID notification

Software supplied with the Fitbit Charge 3 HR+

The Fitbit App is supplied through both the Google play store and App store. Customers advise that this should be suitable for any smartphones released in the last 4 years.

Putting some of the mains features to the test:

Continuous heart rate monitor – Apart from the HR+’s great touch screen interface, one of the biggest draws is the heart rate monitor. From this single piece of information so much about your workout and day to day activities can be calculated.

Fitbit have really made sure this functionality is one of the best in its class. Being ‘always on’ ensures that all of your day is tracked which allows you to not only look at your workouts specifically but also the rest of your working day.

One example was it was clear to see when I had used the stairs each day vs using the lift, for some including myself it’s a very good way of making sure that you don’t cheat at the little fitness wins.

Step, calorie and distance counter – Unlike previous fitness trackers we have tested this one is exceptionally accurate. When we counted our steps and measured the distance vs our confirmed 1.5KM walk it was within 2% of the total.

It’s not unusual for most fitness trackers to be around 5-10% out. I guess being one of the most popular fitness tracking companies on the market gives you the budget to produce higher quality design and functionality.

Connected GPS – Firstly let me point out that there is a huge difference between GPS and connected GPS. This version relies on a connection to your phone to perform much of the heavy lifting. There is a number of reasons for this but mainly because on-bord GPS like Fitbits premium Surge model requires a lot of additional tech to be included in the fitness watch itself, this can make it much bigger and heavier, as well as greatly reduced battery drain.

Most of will have our phone with us anyway, it makes sense to keep costs low and run a connected GPS setup. Your phone will accurately map your running route by constantly being in touch with your smartphone. Overall it gave great results and the app was able to produce a whole range of helpful detailed results including fitness scores, progress monitoring, distance and a heart rate over time. This really is some of the best results tracking software we have tested.

Automatic sleep tracker – I am going to admit that using sleep trackers isn’t one of favourite parts of review testing. I often think they are a bit of a gimmick and I don’t know what I am meant to do with the results or they can help me sleep better apart from go to bed earlier.

This sleep tracker at least gives more details of your sleep patterns. When you wake up feeling fatigued you can double check with the app that confirms you have had a poor night’s sleep (it has nothing to do with the alcohol, kabab and going to bed at 2am).

Guided breathing sessions – Again not a feature that I would specifically go out of my way to test but another colleague in the office loves this feature. She specifically go out of her way a few times day to perform the breathing exercises and swears that they help keep her stress levels to a minimum. A nice additional feature that may benefit some users.

Caller ID notification – For me this is a nice to have piece of functionality rather than essential. If I did receive a notification during a gym workout I wouldn’t go out of my way to reply ‘stay in the zone J’.

Your phone has to be in range for this to work, during testing this did work and both missed calls and text messages were displayed on the touch screen.

What not to expect from the Fitbit Charge 3 HR+

Fitbit have done a great job at making a premium fitness product stacked with features affordable to many. Fitbit however does not include some features that some may be looking for.

One example is that we would not recommend taking this in a swimming pool, it’s not marketed as a swimming tracker and there is no knowing when your Fitbit may blackscreen and never turn back on if you take it for a swim.

Although the Fitbit Charge 3 HR+ is connected to your phone it does not allow for features such as music control or volume adjustment. The GPS is also powered by your mobile phones and not built in, those looking for built in GPS fitness trackers would have to pick up the Fitbit Iconic at over double the price.

Pros

Great build quality

Free software supplied is exceptional

Good battery life

Heart rate monitor is excellent

Does the basics well

Cons

Requires a good smartphone with GPS

Not recommend to be submerged in water for long periods of time

Final thoughts

From reading our above comments you can see why we love this fitness tracker. The Fitbit Charge 3 HR+ isn’t a huge step up from the Fitbit Charge but it was never going to be, it’s hard to improve on something that is already great.

It’s not only the fitness tracker that is a standout winner but also the software supplied, they really have done an excellent job in making functional, accurate and user friendly software. This combination makes it an almost un-touchable high spec low cost option.

Danny Foxton is a personal trainer and gym tech enthusiast. He has written more than 50 reviews over the years for various gym equipment after he was in the privileged position of being tester for a large UK high street retailer.